Quickstart#

Note

TL;DR Use bootloader list to view all of the available commands. You can then use booloader <command> --help to view the documentation for that command.

After installing bootloader as described here, you should have access to a command-line utility called bootloader. You can check via:

bootloader --version

If this command prints a version, you’re good to go.

The primary function of the bootloader is to load new firmware onto Dephy’s devices. Each device has the following three microcontrollers on it:

  • Mange (mn)

  • Execute (ex)

  • Regulate (re)

In addition to these three, each device has a bluetooth (bt121) module.

If your device is an exo (not an actpack), then it will have two additional modules:

  • Habsolute (habs; this is a Hall Effect sensor)

  • XBee

bootloader provides commands for flashing each of these.

Displaying Available Information#

bootloader can require a lot of information. To help you navigate the available options for certain fields, such as device name and rigid version, bootloader provides the show command.

  • bootloader show versions - Lists all available firmware versions

  • bootloader show devices - Lists all devices for which there is firmware

  • bootloader show rigids - Lists all rigid versions for which there is firmware

  • bootloader show configs - Displays the available pre-made configurations for flashing

Note

Not all combinations of device name, rigid version, and firmware version are supported

Flashing Regulate#

bootloader flash re [options] <port> <current mn firmware> <to> <rigid version> <led>
Arguments:

  • port Port the device is on, e.g., COM3.

  • currentMnFw Manage’s current firmware, e.g., 7.2.0.

  • to Version to flash, e.g., 9.1.0, or path to file to use.

  • rigidVersion PCB hardware version, e.g., 4.1B.

  • led Either ‘mono’, ‘multi’, or ‘stealth’

Options:
  • -b, --baudRate=BAUDRATE

    Device baud rate. [default: 230400]

  • -l, --libFile=LIBFILE

    C lib for interacting with Manage.

  • -h, --help

    Display help for the given command. When no command is given display help for the list command.

  • -q, --quiet

    Do not output any message.

  • -V, --version

    Display this application version.

  • --ansi

    Force ANSI output.

  • --no-ansi

    Disable ANSI output.

  • -n, --no-interaction

    Do not ask any interactive question.

  • -t, --theme=THEME

    Sets theme.

  • --debug

    Enables tracebacks.

  • -v|vv|vvv, –verbose Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug.

If your device is an actpack then you will probably want led to be multi (indicating multiple colors will be used on the device’s LED). If you are flashing an exo, you will probably want led to be mono (indicating that the device’s LED will only use a single color).

Note

The port can be determined by looking uder the COM Ports section of the Windows Device Manager.

Note

The value of to can be either a semantic version string or a path to a file. If you are trying to use a semantic version string, e.g., 10.7.0, you will need AWS access keys in order to download the firmware. If these were not provided to you with your purchase, please reach out to Dephy at support@dephy.com.

Example#

Let’s we have an actpack currently running version 7.2.0 of the firmware, is connected to port COM3, and has a PCB version of 4.1B and we want to flash version 10.7.0 of the firmware. If we have AWS access keys:

bootloader flash re COM3 7.2.0 10.7.0 4.1B multi

If you do not have AWS access keys but do have a local 10.7.0 firmware file located at ~/firmware/fw.cyacd:

bootloader flash re COM3 7.2.0 ~/firmware/fw.cyacd 4.1B multi

Note

Only use firmware files given to you directly by Dephy or downloaded directly from the Dephy AWS firmware bucket.

Flashing Execute#

bootloader flash ex [options] <port> <current mn firmware> <to> <rigid version> <motor type>
Arguments:

  • port Port the device is on, e.g., COM3.

  • currentMnFw Manage’s current firmware, e.g., 7.2.0.

  • to Version to flash, e.g., 9.1.0, or path to file to use.

  • rigidVersion PCB hardware version, e.g., 4.1B.

  • motorType Either ‘actpack’, ‘dephy’, or ‘61or91’

Options:
  • -b, --baudRate=BAUDRATE

    Device baud rate. [default: 230400]

  • -l, --libFile=LIBFILE

    C lib for interacting with Manage.

  • -h, --help

    Display help for the given command. When no command is given display help for the list command.

  • -q, --quiet

    Do not output any message.

  • -V, --version

    Display this application version.

  • --ansi

    Force ANSI output.

  • --no-ansi

    Disable ANSI output.

  • -n, --no-interaction

    Do not ask any interactive question.

  • -t, --theme=THEME

    Sets theme.

  • --debug

    Enables tracebacks.

  • -v|vv|vvv, –verbose Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug.

If your device is a geared actpack, you will want motor type to be 61or91.

Note

The port can be determined by looking uder the COM Ports section of the Windows Device Manager.

Note

The value of to can be either a semantic version string or a path to a file. If you are trying to use a semantic version string, e.g., 10.7.0, you will need AWS access keys in order to download the firmware. If these were not provided to you with your purchase, please reach out to Dephy at support@dephy.com.

Example#

Let’s we have an actpack currently running version 7.2.0 of the firmware, is connected to port COM3, and has a PCB version of 4.1B and we want to flash version 10.7.0 of the firmware. If we have AWS access keys:

bootloader flash ex COM3 7.2.0 10.7.0 4.1B actpack

If you do not have AWS access keys but do have a local 10.7.0 firmware file located at ~/firmware/fw.cyacd:

bootloader flash ex COM3 7.2.0 ~/firmware/fw.cyacd 4.1B actpack

Note

Only use firmware files given to you directly by Dephy or downloaded directly from the Dephy AWS firmware bucket.

Flashing Manage#

flash mn [options] [--] <port> <currentMnFw> <to> <rigidVersion> <deviceName> <side>
Arguments:

  • port Port the device is on, e.g., COM3.

  • currentMnFw Manage’s current firmware, e.g., 7.2.0.

  • to Version to flash, e.g., 9.1.0, or path to file to use.

  • rigidVersion PCB hardware version, e.g., 4.1B.

  • deviceName Name of the device, e.g., actpack.

  • side left, right, or none.

Options:
  • -b, --baudRate=BAUDRATE

    Device baud rate. [default: 230400]

  • -l, --libFile=LIBFILE

    C lib for interacting with Manage.

  • -h, --help

    Display help for the given command. When no command is given display help for the list command.

  • -q, --quiet

    Do not output any message.

  • -V, --version

    Display this application version.

  • --ansi

    Force ANSI output.

  • --no-ansi

    Disable ANSI output.

  • -n, --no-interaction

    Do not ask any interactive question.

  • -t, --theme=THEME

    Sets theme.

  • --debug

    Enables tracebacks.

  • -v|vv|vvv, –verbose Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug.

Example#

Let’s we have an actpack currently running version 7.2.0 of the firmware, is connected to port COM3, and has a PCB version of 4.1B and we want to flash version 10.7.0 of the firmware. If we have AWS access keys:

bootloader flash mn COM3 7.2.0 10.7.0 4.1B actpack none

If you do not have AWS access keys but do have a local 10.7.0 firmware file located at ~/firmware/fw.cyacd:

bootloader flash ex COM3 7.2.0 ~/firmware/fw.cyacd 4.1B actpack

Note

Only use firmware files given to you directly by Dephy or downloaded directly from the Dephy AWS firmware bucket.

Configurations#

Note

These commands are for internal-use by Dephy. However, they could be adapted to use your cloud storage

Configurations are sets of firmware files that go together, such as firmware version 7.2.0 for Mn, Ex, and Re on an actpack. They can also refer to sets of files used in a particular experiment or at a particular event. Rather than have to track these files indivudally, bootloader provides a way to package these files together and upload them to the cloud for later use.

A configuration can be created via

bootloader config create <configName>

You will then be prompted to enter the path to each firmware file you want to include in the configuration. These files will be zipped together into an archive.

You can then upload the newly created archive with

bootloader config upload <archiveName>

Download one with .. code-block:: bash

bootloader config download <archiveName>

and flashed with

bootloader flash config [options] <port> <currentMnFw> <configName>

Arguments: * port: Port the device is on, e.g., COM3 * currentMnFw: Manage’s current firmware, e.g., 7.2.0 * configName: Name of the configuration to use

Cleaning#

clean [options] [--] <target>
Arguments:

target Targets to clean. Can be: all, libs, tools, or firmware.

Options:
  • -h, --help

    Display help for the given command. When no command is given display help for the list command.

  • -q, --quiet

    Do not output any message.

  • -V, --version

    Display this application version.

  • --ansi

    Force ANSI output.

  • --no-ansi

    Disable ANSI output.

  • -n, --no-interaction

    Do not ask any interactive question.

  • -t, --theme=THEME

    Sets theme.

  • --debug

    Enables tracebacks.

  • -v|vv|vvv, –verbose Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug.

Removes the target directory from the bootloader’s cache. target can be: all, libs, tools or firmware.

If target is libs, all of the cached pre-compiled C libraries will be removed.

If target is tools, then all of the cached tools necessary for bootloading will be removed. This will force them to be re-downloaded.

If target is firmware, the all of the cached firmware files will be removed.

If target is all, then all of the above operations will be performed.

Example#

# Clear the cache of firmware files (this will require that they be re-downloaded)
bootloader clean firmware

# Clear the whole cache (everything will need to be re-downloaded)
bootloader clean all

Performing a Full Chip Erase for Manage#

erase [options]
Options:
  • -h, --help

    Display help for the given command. When no command is given display help for the list command.

  • -q, --quiet

    Do not output any message.

  • -V, --version

    Display this application version.

  • --ansi

    Force ANSI output.

  • --no-ansi

    Disable ANSI output.

  • -n, --no-interaction

    Do not ask any interactive question.

  • -t, --theme=THEME

    Sets theme.

  • --debug

    Enables tracebacks.

  • -v|vv|vvv, –verbose Increase the verbosity of messages: 1 for normal output, 2 for more verbose output and 3 for debug.

Performs a full chip erase on Manage using the st-flash utility provided by the stlink tools repository.

Caution

This command requires the use of a ST Link hardware programmer connected directly to the Manage MCU. This command will NOT work via just a USB connection. Additionally, after performing the erase operation, you will need to reset the device ID and find poles. Additionally, if your device is an exo, you will need to perform a belt calibration and calibrate the IMU. These functions are best performed using Dephy’s GUI, which you should have received access to with your purchase.

Caution

If your device is an exo, you will need to flash Actpack firmware onto the device BEFORE finding poles. Once pole finding is complete, you can then flash your desired firmware onto your device.